Coffee Pot and Cover thumbnail 1
Coffee Pot and Cover thumbnail 2
+2
images
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Coffee Pot and Cover

1753 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Like the earlier ‘Medici porcelain’ works in Florence, the Doccia factory was founded by a nobleman who was himself closely involved in the technical side of making porcelain – the Marchese Carlo Ginori (1702-1757). Indeed, it is likely that the Marchese was aware of and admired ‘Medici porcelain’, as he occasionally used the same factory mark of the dome of Florence Cathedral.

Under Carlo Ginori, the factory undertook some remarkable experiments in porcelain production, including ambitious large figure sculptures, some of the earliest attempts at transfer-printing in underglaze cobalt blue, double-walled pierced cups inspired by Chinese Dehua brush pots, and useful wares like this coffee pot made for a service for Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Stoppani.

Stoppani was Nunzio in Tuscany from 1735 to 1739 and was a friend of Carlo Ginori. In a letter of 1752 he reminded Ginori that he had sent him a drawing with his family coat-of-arms, probably for reproduction on this service, and another letter dated December of the following year records the delivery of the service.

The painted decoration of the service, with naturalistically painted flowers and insects, is indebted to the Vienna Du Paquier factory. The distinctive shape of this coffee pot with its elongated neck, bird's head spout, bulbous body and domed cover, recalls Persian metalware coffee pots, water ewers and jugs.

Object details

Category
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Coffee Pot
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Porcelain painted in enamel colours and gilt
Brief description
Coffee pot and cover bearing arms of Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Stoppani, Doccia, 1753
Physical description
Coffee pot and cover bearing arms of Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Stoppani.
Dimensions
  • Height: 29cm
  • Diameter: 14.6cm
Gallery label
Coffee pot About 1753 Like many other 18th-century European porcelain factories, the Doccia manufactory in Florence was founded by a nobleman, the Marchese Carlo Ginori. Unlike other patrons, he was closely involved in the technicalities of making porcelain. This piece copies Middle Eastern coffee pots, reflecting coffee’s origins in the Ottoman Empire. Italy (Florence) Made at the Doccia porcelain factory Porcelain painted in enamels and gilded Painted with the arms of Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Stoppani (09/12/2015)
Object history
Alessandro Biancalana writes in the Lokar collection catalogue (see below):
'This piece was part of a service ordered between 1752 and 1753 for Cardinal Gianfranco Stoppani, Apostolic Nuncio in Florence from 1735 to 1739 and is typical of a series of services with coats of arms made at Doccia from 1750 to 1755. Another such service was ordered by Cardinal Torrigiani, and like this one was also painted with realistic depictions of Eruopean flowers, indebted to models adopted by Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier.'
Summary
Like the earlier ‘Medici porcelain’ works in Florence, the Doccia factory was founded by a nobleman who was himself closely involved in the technical side of making porcelain – the Marchese Carlo Ginori (1702-1757). Indeed, it is likely that the Marchese was aware of and admired ‘Medici porcelain’, as he occasionally used the same factory mark of the dome of Florence Cathedral.

Under Carlo Ginori, the factory undertook some remarkable experiments in porcelain production, including ambitious large figure sculptures, some of the earliest attempts at transfer-printing in underglaze cobalt blue, double-walled pierced cups inspired by Chinese Dehua brush pots, and useful wares like this coffee pot made for a service for Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Stoppani.

Stoppani was Nunzio in Tuscany from 1735 to 1739 and was a friend of Carlo Ginori. In a letter of 1752 he reminded Ginori that he had sent him a drawing with his family coat-of-arms, probably for reproduction on this service, and another letter dated December of the following year records the delivery of the service.

The painted decoration of the service, with naturalistically painted flowers and insects, is indebted to the Vienna Du Paquier factory. The distinctive shape of this coffee pot with its elongated neck, bird's head spout, bulbous body and domed cover, recalls Persian metalware coffee pots, water ewers and jugs.
Bibliographic references
  • Kräftner, J. Baroque Luxury Porcelain: The Manufacturers of Du Paquier in Vienna and of Carlo Ginori in Florence , Liechtenstein Museum, 2005, p.290
  • D’Agliano, Andreina (editor). Porcellane Italiane dalla Collezione Lokar Italian Porcelain in the Lokar Collection. Silvana Editoriale, Milan, 2013. Includes contributions by Andrea Bellieni, Alessandro Biancalana, Angela Caròla-Perrotti, Elisabetta Dal Carlo, Giuliana Ericani and Luca Melegati. See catalogue 87 in the Ginori (Doccia) section by Alessandra Biancalana for a beaker from the same service.
  • Frescobaldi Malenchini, Livia ed. With Balleri, Rita and Rucellai, Oliva, ‘Amici di Doccia Quaderni, Numero VII, 2013, The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection’, Edizioni Polistampa, Firenze, 2014 p.32, Cat. 8 8. Coffee pot and cover 1753 hard-paste porcelain painted in colours and gold h 29 cm no mark inv. C. 51&A-1931 purchase: W.W. Winkworth, £ 6 Pear-shaped coffee pot with vertical ribs; the thick, ribbed handle has volutes that are accented in purple and gold. The cover is dome-shaped, the foot has a scalloped edge, and the spout ends in a snake’s head. The shape is an imitation of similar objects in silver from Liguria: in particular, we find this identical model in a Genoese coffeepot in silver marked “DMP” dated to about 1738 (BOGGERO, SIMONETTI 2005, p. 145, fig. 2a). The coffee pot is decorated on one side with polychrome vines, flowers and insects predominantly painted in red, bright green and purple, while the other side has the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Stoppani, Apostolic Nuncio in Tuscany from 1735 to 1739. The coat-of-arms, surmounted by a cardinal’s hat, is painted mainly in shades of red and purple, using a colour combination that was common also on other services with coats of- arms manufactured in this era, 1750-1755, like that made for Cardinal Luigi Torrigiani (A. d’Agliano, in BAROQUE LUXURY PORCELAIN 2005, p. 287, cat. 113). The range of colours used for these porcelain pieces is inspired by that used at the Viennese factory of Claudio Innocenzo Du Paquier, whose stylistic features and colours the Ginori factory was imitating, especially in the early years of production. Cardinal Stoppani was a close friend of Carlo Ginori: a letter sent by the cardinal on December 1st 1753 to Ginori (GINORI LISCI 1963, p. 132, note 49) demonstrates that on that day a breakfast service with the cardinal’s armorial device had been delivered to him. Some other objects from this set are a coffee cup in a private collection (BIANCALANA 2009, p. 183) and a creamer which is now in the Museum fur Kunstund Gewerbe in Hamburg (A. d’Agliano in BAROQUE LUXURY PORCELAIN 2005, p. 286, cat. 112). A. d’A. Bibliography: HUNT 1928, vol. II, 7, p. 343, fig. 3 (as porcelain from Bayreuth); LANE 1954, p. 35, plate 48; A. d’Agliano, in BAROQUE LUXURY PORCELAIN 2005, p. 290, cat. 115
Collection
Accession number
C.51-1931

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Record createdMarch 9, 2006
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